Taos

We had heard a lot about Taos. Unfortunately we did not have the time or the patience for the sweltering heat to explore as much as we would have liked. We were able to see a few of the hippies and/or artists and we stopped to explore the Taos Pueblo. Now, I had assumed that the Taos Pueblo was a place kind of like Jamestown- y' know, you walk through and look at all the houses that people used to live in and ooh and ahh at artifacts of the past. We eventually realized that it was a living community. There are people actually still inhabiting the Pueblo. People were trying to live their lives while (once again) us white folk were walking around staring at them and their homes with fascination. I felt as though I was intruding and quickly grew uncomfortable with being there. Luckily I had managed to take a few pictures before my guilt and discomfort took over.

My favorite part was the old cemetery. The first grave was put in during the 1800's and has been used to house the bodies of its residents since then. The grave markers were handmade and very beautiful. 

I know I have mentioned it before, but it is certainly worth mentioning again. New Mexico was like walking through a giant oven, it was the hottest weather I have ever experienced in my life. The heat forced us out of Taos sooner than we would have liked and we were on the road again. 

Oh look! More beautiful skies and mountains!

After about six more hours, we found ourselves in Wetmore, Colorado...

Santa Fe (do do do doo)

Jack likes to sing this unknown Bob Dylan song that goes "Santa Fe do do do doo, ohhh Santa Fe."

Anyway, there we were in Santa Fe unsure of what to do. We started out taking a walk along the creek that lead to the downtown area. The creek was freezing cold, but ever the water- lover I had to get at least a small portion of my body in the creek. After walking a little ways I discovered a pile of cut flowers stuck in the current. There was a rose, a daisy and some other unidentified flowers. Naturally, I pictured a    man bringing his lover flowers only to discover that she was with someone else. To calm his broken heart the man walked along the creek and at the very end of it dramatically tossed the bouquet into the fast moving water. Anyway, heres a picture of me with the flowers telling the story to Jack:

When we reached the downtown area we decided to stop in a religious articles store. Neither Jack nor I is the least bit religious, but it looked like a cool store so we decided to stop in. Connie, the store's owner, was a small delicate hispanic woman with deep smile lines. She began to ask us questions about who we were and where we were from and what were doing there. After we answered here questions she handed us Saint Dominic Pendants and invited us into her house which was connected to the store. She seemed nice enough, so Jack and I followed her back where she showed us her shrine to the Sacred Heart of so and so. This Sacred Heart of so and so was so special that her family had carved out part of the wall to house her and painted the faces of Connie and her brothers and sisters around the edge. It was quite beautiful.

and heres Connie!

She then recommended that we eat at Guadalupe's. Look how happy that made Jack:

Though it was beyond hot, we decided to walk downtown for a bit longer. This is what it looked like:

there were lots of these:

and these:

and we even saw Sarah and Vineet hanging out:

The main square was a little disconcerting for us. There was a line of Native Americans selling all kinds of jewelry. Them white folks walked down the line picking and choosing what they deemed beautiful enough to have in their collection while the Natives fanned themselves and waited silently for someone to buy their beautiful handiwork. It was very upsetting, almost as upsetting as something that you will learn about that happened in Taos.

Besides all of that Santa Fe was pretty wonderful. The people, the skies, the flowers and the food. It was just a bit too warm for us. 

Next on the list was Taos.

The New Mexico!

Sorry for the long delay, blogging is hard without the internet...

After leaving dreadful Austin, Jack and I drove the 10 hours to Carlsbad, NM. Before we decided to stay there, I had never heard of Carlsbad, NM, only the intensely creepy Carlsbad, Czech Republic. As it turns out, Carlsbad USA turned out to be a far more terrifying experience than the Eastern European version.

When we were around an hour away from Carlsbad things got very strange. The air was thick and hot, there didn't seem to be another human for hundreds of miles, there was red lightening on all sides and we encountered a suicidal Jack Rabbit (think any David Lynch movie- thats what we were driving through).

We had intended on camping, but the blood lightening and the memories of the slaughtered Jack Rabbit forced us to stay at a hotel- a "comfort" inn. The parking lot was empty, the lobby was empty- the only sign of life was coming from a middle- aged man sitting behind the counter staring at the television straight ahead. In a Norman Bates voice (now we are switching movies) he told me that he normally charged 95$ for the only room he could give us, but he was willing to do 75$ for us. He handed us the key for room 201 and a la serial killer quietly said "I will be here all night."

There wasn't anyone else in the hotel (or so we thought), and the room he gave us was directly above him. The front lock didn't work and the room was conjoined with another. Jack checked under the bed and in the closets a few times, set his knife on the bedside table, and right as we were falling asleep, the most terrifying thunderstorm touched down on the roof of our hotel...

Ok, so morning in Carlsbad wasn't so bad, we were both glad to be leaving the hotel and in generally good spirits as we made our way to the Carlsbad caverns. I know- it probably wasn't the place to go to dispose of our Carlsbad consternation, but we went anyway.

There are also cool (but still very creepy) things on the surface:

There are a few cute things in Carlsbad:

Then we made our way through Roswell, NM. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived the UFO museum and RESEARCH facility was closed. We still managed see multiple aliens around the town of Roswell. 

After leaving Roswell, we made our way up to Santa Fe. The sky was just beautiful that day/night so many of our pictures ended up being clouds.

By the time we reached the Santa Fe line, I had fallen in love. The air tasted and smelled different, the sky was a color purple that I had never seen before and the mountains created a perfect wave in and out of marshmellow-y clouds. 

As soon as we pulled up to our adorable cabin, (we keep trying to sleep in our tent, we truly want to "rough" it, but thunderstorms keep getting in our way) we opened our bourbon and Lonestar and sat outside where we were able to see the stars for the first time in a very long time.

The next morning we woke up to a cat named 'Bennie' prancing around our front porch.

and here is Bennie, Jack and our photogenic cabin:

Austin, TX

I have to admit, I wasn't really all that fond of Austin. We had trouble finding places to sleep, and had to deal with asinine men (the people there in general seemed to kind of suck), and the nightlife we experienced more closely resembled a circus. There were a few highlights: Barton Springs was wonderful, and the aftermath of the Pride parade was quite visually enjoyable. Plus, we found the Austin Jesus: Moxy, Vineet's friend who rescued us from the Austin heat and let us stay on her couch.

The first morning we were all grumpy and pissed off because a certain male friend of Katherine's completely blew us off at the last minute and we had been forced to stay in another expensive, yet crappy, hotel.  We perked up a bit after a visit to Quack's, an adorable cafe with great food, and they also employ some of the few nice people in Austin. We had turkey brie sandwiches and a huge buttercream cupcake for dessert.

After Quacks we visited Waterloo records which was quite impressive and then made our way to Barton Springs!

I didn't bring my camera because I didn't want it to drown, but here is what it used to look like (I like this picture better than all the current ones)

Katherine and I went to the more shallow end, since I am still unable to get my back wet, while Jack swam through the mossy deep end and checked out ladies. I had a great time, but it reminded me of Belle Isle and made me miss home just a bit.


Then we ate at Magnolia Cafe and then drove to Moxy's house. Shortly after we arrived and after waiting for Jack to take a 35 minute shower (yes, I timed it), we left for the Austin Gay Pride Parade. We got lost several times, even with the GPS AND handwritten instructions, and by the time we had parked and arrived the parade had ended. I did manage to get a few shots of some of the parade- goers though.

Then we rode in a Pedi-Cab and it was REAL fun. Almost like riding on the back of a motorcycle, but not...

This was our driver:

This was us riding the Pedi-Cab:

I don't know if we just went the wrong places, or if it was the wrong time of year, or if most of the good people were out of town, but Austin was not such a good place. Thankfully I was able to get a delicious breakfast taco in before leaving.

 In Austin I had to say goodbye to my darling Katherine, which was very sad. She better come visit me soon, or else I will kill her.

I can't wait to show you guys what happened next!

New Orleans Part II

That night we went to Layla's friend's show at the NoMa. The band's name was Jean Eric and they describe their music as 'lounge crunk.' They were all dressed in costumes that were somewhere in between lady gaga and crazy street ladies (whatever those are) and looked as though they had just gone swimming in a pool of glitter. They were loud and dancing like crazy people (in a fun and charming way, of course) up and down the marble staircase at New Orlean's art museum. The music was electro-poppy and all they way around an awesome experience. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera. 

Nell, if you happen upon my blog- you need to look them up... You will probably want to start following them around.

After the show had finished, we went outside and low and behold there was Kevin Corrigan and Jennifer Coolidge hanging out!!! We took a minute to soak in the importance of the people who stood before us and continued our night.

 

Here are Layla and Richard at the Jean Eric after party:

The next morning we woke up to discover that Layla had called in sick and would be able to play with us! 'Party day' began with 25lbs of crawfish to split between the 7 of us (Layla's glorious friends Lauren, Darrell and Greg were the other participants in this feast). Our feast was held at Lauren's house which used to belong to her grandparents and had remained untouched by modern design- everything from furniture to trinkets was the same as when the house was built in the 1950s. Obviously I was in love...

I was terrified to eat these slimy red creatures. There was no confirmation that each was no longer living, what if I put on in my mouth and it started crawling and pinching me. Nightmarish visions past through my head until I snapped off my very first crawfish tail.

Oh yeah, meet Elvis, he just had his penis removed (poor Elvis)

Then we went swimming!

Then it started to rain, I had to wear a poncho because of my tattoo...

It was great.

Next we ate watermelon, which was also great.

Later on we went to get burritos and then beignets from Cafe Du Monde, and I was so full that I could barely walk. I was cured when we were walking up the mississippi and happened upon yet another celebrity: the silver fox! He was giving a report on the oil spill, and though I felt guilty for my excitement when his broadcast was of such a serious and depressing nature, I enjoyed him being 10 ft away from me nonetheless. Once again I did not bring my camera. 

He is even dreamier in person!

We ended the night with a ferry ride across the Mississippi and back, and since we were tired from our day drinking, just a drive down the party blocks.